


Do you wanna Duo Queue?

by Kivea



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gamers, Alternate Universe - League of Legends, First Dates, Gamers, Humor, I just really wanted to write dumb squad gaming fun, League of Legends - Freeform, M/M, romcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-26
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2019-01-05 18:59:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12195765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kivea/pseuds/Kivea
Summary: ‘Yeah Pidge, we make a great team.’‘Fine. I challenge you.’‘What?’‘You say you can get along fine? Prove it. Go on a date.’He should've kept his mouth shut. They should've both kept their mouths shut. Why couldn't they just go through one evening without provoking each other?A dumb gaming fic about the squad playing League of Legends





	Do you wanna Duo Queue?

It was a pretty standard night. Keith finished up all his reading for the night and loaded up his laptop with a plan to not move from his desk for at least six hours. He was secure in the fact that his first lecture on a Thursday was at one o’clock, so sleeping at a sensible time wasn’t going to be an issue. He could hear Shiro humming away in the kitchen and Keith decided to do him the kindness of pressing the on switch to his gaming PC so it’d be ready to go when he got back to their communal area. 

Allura showed up first, a warm smile on her face as she approached. ‘Are you two having another gaming night?’ 

‘We are. Shiro doesn’t know yet.’ 

‘Of course not. It’s not as fun if it’s not a surprise, right?’ 

He smirked at her over his shoulder. ‘You got it.’ 

‘Hey what are you two wanting for-wait. Stop. No.’ 

‘Yes.’ 

Shiro scowled from his place in the doorway to their kitchen. ‘We played this morning. You got back from Uni only half an hour ago. I thought you were doing your work?’ 

‘I did. I finished. I’m ready to play.’ 

‘Food first at least. What do you want for dinner?’ 

Allura chuckled at their bickering. ‘I don’t mind making dinner tonight, Shiro. You two play your game. It’ll give me a chance to watch some more Daredevil, seeing as Keith watched the rest of it without me!’ 

He wasn’t  ashamed. ‘I needed to know.’ 

‘Don’t expect me to wait for you when we get to Jessica Jones.’ 

Shiro sighed and rolled his eyes. ‘Fine, we can play a couple of games. Who else is online?’ 

Keith grinned wide and loaded up their discord server, seeing that two people were already loaded in. ‘Pidge and Hunk.’ 

‘I guess Lance must be close behind them.’

‘A full team, huh?’

Shiro finally sat down with a sigh as he secured his headset on his head and began to load up. Keith took the chance to jump on to the server in the middle of Hunk and Pidge’s conversation. The loud sound of their discussion warmed his heart instantly. There was something familiar and pleasant about coming home to his friends. 

_‘-I’m telling you, Hunk. You could totally take Lulu top lane. I’ve seen it. It works.’_

_‘And I’m telling you, Pidge, I don’t care how much you and Lance want to have a full Star Guardian team, I’m not playing Lulu top. Why don’t you take her jungle, I thought you could play anyone jungle. Isn’t that what you said?’_

_‘Because.’_

_‘Because why?’_

_‘I want Poppy.’_

There was an offended gasp. 

 _‘You want to_ rob  _me of my favourite_ _yordle_ _?’_

_‘Lulu could be_ _your_ _favourite if you just gave her a chance.’_

Keith scrunched his nose up. ‘Wait, does that mean you guys expect me to play Janna? Really?’ 

 _‘Hey!’_ Hunk’s soft voice rang through.  _‘You guys coming on to play too?’_

_‘Of course they are_ _,_ _I know Keith’s trying to get that second mastery six token with Leona. I was_ _spectating_ _his games earlier.’_

‘You’re kinda creepy, you know that?’ 

_‘I’ve been told. Also, you guys give Janna way too much shit considering she’s got_ _one of_ _the highest_ _win_ _rate_ _s_ _in the game_ _since forever_ _.’_

‘Whatever you say. I’ll stick with what I have, thanks.’ 

Shiro finally loaded in, his username ‘Space Dad’ flicking up to his online list. ‘Hey guys, is Lance playing today?’ 

_‘Yeah, he’s just getting snacks and stuff sorted. I’ll set up a lobby.’_

The name flicked online before he heard the voice echo through his headset. Keith sucked in a breath and mentally prepared himself for the shit he was about to deal with. 

_‘Good evening, my beautiful PLDNs! Who is ready to be wowed?’_

‘Just kill me and get it over with.’ 

 _‘Wow, alright then,_ Keith _, no need to be rude.’_

‘There is.’ 

Shiro was sighing already though his tone showed how he’d settled into Game Mode. ‘Let’s get started guys, and keep the bickering to a minimum, yeah?’ 

_‘I make no promises.’_

_‘_ _Please,_ _Shiro_ _. You can’t stop the bickering. How else will they express their undying love for each other?’_

_‘I am not here to deal with your snarky comments, Pidgeon.’_

_‘No one’s forcing you to be in the discord chat, Lancelot.’_

Keith ignored the pair as he accepted the match and fell into his usual support role. He scrolled through to find Leona, given that Pidge was right. He did want to get that second mastery token. Hopefully having Pidge around would help with that. She was always happy to give up kills for one of them to get that extra boost when they needed it. 

‘Shiro!’ Allura’s voice echoed through from the kitchen. ‘Can I have a quick hand? I can’t find the tomato paste!’ 

Ever the gentleman, Shiro requested that Keith locked in for him before he disappeared to go help with food. The temptation to give him something silly was strong, but it wasn’t worth risking Allura’s food for. 

_‘Is he gone?’_

Keith frowned. ‘What? Yeah, he’s gone to help in the kitchen.’ 

 _‘Good,’_ Pidge had a malicious tone to her voice.  _‘I don’t want him around to stop me.’_

The icon of her usual champion changed, showing one blue haired ADC in its place. Keith nearly choked on his own spit. 

_‘Pidge what the fuck.’_

_‘Just trust me, Lance. I will help carry you to victory.’_

Keith smirked as he locked in Shiro’s choice before moving back to his laptop to do the same. By the time the taller man had returned they were about to load in to the game, and he placed a can of redbull down next to Keith so missed the initial flash before the loading screen popped up with their splash art decorating the screen. 

He snorted and tried to hold back his laughter as he heard the giggles of his team mates ringing in his ears and the person next to him let out a long sigh. The splash art was beautiful, that was something he couldn’t deny. The person who had picked the champion was the questionable and humorous part. 

‘Pidge.’ 

There was a slightly higher pitched hum of acknowledgement through the headset. 

‘I know you’ve just got pulsefire Caitlyn,’ Shiro started. ‘But she’s not a jungler.’ 

_‘You_ _wanna_ _bet?’_

When Keith looked over his flatmate was rubbing his temples. ‘No, I don’t wanna bet. I want you to pick a jungler.’ 

_‘One-v-one me in the Baron pit.’_

_‘Oh, come on,_ _Shiro_ _!’_ came the cheerful voice of their ADC.  _‘It’ll be entertaining.’_

‘That’s one way to put it…’ 

Pidge cackled.  _‘It’s_ _gonna_ _be great. I’m so excited. This is the best idea I’ve ever had.’_

_‘As good as when you supported for me?’_

_‘Hey-Katarina was a great support. You got so_ _much farm_ _that game.’_

_‘Yeah, and who got all the kills?’_

_‘I supported you in my own way.’_

Shiro finally caved. ‘Alright I get it; it’s not the worst idea.’

‘Hey Pidge, I just want you to know,’ Keith finally spoke up. ‘Shiro’s definitely smiling. That’s a man who is entertained.’ 

 _‘Yes!’_  her voice echoed through his brain.  _‘Dad approved!’_

He simply grinned at the glare that was shot over at him before they fully loaded into the game and pulled themselves together. They set out for a start, Keith demanding that Lance played on top of his game to help him get the next mastery level, and Hunk trying to make Shiro feel better about their jungle situation with comments on the opposing team. 

But Pidge was right. She helped carry them to victory. 

It was thirty minutes in when he knew that he definitely had that S rank he needed, S- at the very least. He could hear Lance’s cheering ringing loud through the headset and could see Pidge already heading up towards Baron, pinging excitedly with Hunk close behind. The banner flashed across the screen reading “PENTAKILL” in bold letters as Keith’s assists number increased dramatically. 

 _‘Did you see that?!’_ Lance cowed.  _‘Fucking ace!’_

‘You were incredible.’ 

_‘Best support of the year! I’m so happy I could kiss you I swear to fuck.’_

Keith felt his face begin to heat up at the words, a startled laugh escaping his lips. He heard Shiro’s soft chuckle through the headset and turned to see his flatmate watching him with an amused smile.  _Shit_ he needed to get himself together and school his face into something more like the begrudging respect that he usually had. Shiro was spectacular at catching him out. 

‘Yeah, well, you know, good team work, or whatever. Let’s-let’s do baron.’ 

_‘Damn straight!’_

Wow yeah he was so not straight like the complete opposite. 

‘Hey Lance,’ Shiro’s smooth voice filtered through the excitable babble of their teammates. There was that glint in his eye that promised revenge from something Keith had done. ‘Keith’s definitely smiling. That’s a man who wants a kiss.’ 

‘Holy- _Shiro_ _what the fuck_?’ Keith did his best not to screech as he picked up the slinky that sat on his desk and lobbed it across the room. ‘Shut  _up_!’ 

A melodious laughter chimed.  _‘Who am I to deny such a handsome young thing a kiss? Pucker up,_ _Keithy_ _-boy.’_

His face was actually on fire. He was going to end up with third degree burns. ‘Don’t you start, asshole. Just because you got a penta doesn’t mean you’re suddenly out of bronze five.’ 

A gasp.  _‘Mullet!_ _You wound me.’_

‘Good.’ 

He turned to see Allura-the  _traitor_ -sitting on the couch giggling away with her eyes on him instead of the TV. The conversation continued as her eyes glittered with amusement, locking him in place. He could feel his cheeks heating up at the knowing stare. Why were his flatmates such assholes? 

_‘Keith, you coming?’_

‘What?’ he looked back at the screen to see his champion sitting by the opposing team’s redbuff while the rest of his team were crowding round Baron. ‘Right, yeah! Sorry, Allura distracted me.’ 

_‘She is pretty distracting.’_

Keith felt the familiar wave of irritation settle over him. That was better. ‘Shut up, Lance.’ 

\---

‘You know, you don’t have to ping at me every five fucking seconds, asshole.’ 

A snort rang through on the headset.  _‘Whatever, Mullet._ _I wouldn’t if you had any map awareness at all.’_

_‘Oh here we go.’_

Keith ignored Hunk’s sigh in favour of getting  _angry_. ‘Are you kidding me? I’m not the only one with wards you dumbass.’ 

_‘_ _It’s_ _your job. It’s what you do. Map awareness. Keep me alive.’_

Keith watched as the 3D model of his laner’s champion ran across the map at half health. The opposing team’s jungler was following close behind with the scent of blood. It’d be easy to get them both out of it. He just needed to land his ult on Warwick and they’d be out of there. 

He narrowed his eyes on Vayne before he decided that throwing the game would be totally worth it and pressed R. She became golden and shimmery, completely unable to move as he opened a tunnel through the jungle to get out alive, leaving her behind like a human sacrifice. 

 _‘You piece of shit!’_ the roar of fury really was worth it.  _‘I cannot believe you just did that.’_

‘Sorry, missclicked.’

_‘_ _Missclicked_ _my ass!_ _You did that on purpose. I’m_ _gonna_ _disconnect I swear to-!’_

‘Keith, Lance, please stop fighting. We need you to help us in this team fight top.’ 

He let out a huff. Only for Shiro. ‘Fine.’ 

_‘Whatever.’_

_‘This is why you’re in wood tier,’_  came the dry voice of Pidge. 

It was a fair point.

‘Once we’ve finished this one up I think I’ll be heading to bed,’ Shiro spoke as he shot a withering look at his housemate. ‘What about you, Keith?’ 

He resisted the urge to pout. ‘Yeah, sure. Whatever.’ 

‘Alright. Let’s end this fast.’ 

_‘I’m not_ _gonna_ _lie I’m like eighty percent certain we’ve lost.’_

_‘I don’t_ _wanna_ _play this dumb game anyway.’_

They did lose. They put up a decent enough fight, but it didn’t help that for the rest of the game Keith kept throwing himself in with reckless abandon while Lance hung back and sulked like a child. Shiro looked ready to personally disconnect his laptop for the foreseeable future when they finally said goodbye to the others, the stern big brother look on his face. 

‘Keith.’ 

Keith drowned out the sound of his name with a loud groan. 

Allura chuckled from the couch and moved over to where they stood, patting Shiro on the shoulder. ‘Don’t be too harsh on him, it’s just a game.’ 

‘Allura you were banned from playing it because you got too competitive and nearly broke the computer.’ 

‘Minor detail. You know how much Keith struggles with…the Lance thing.’ 

Keith scowled at her. He was hoping for some kind of back up, not a drawn out conversation about what they had oh so helpfully dubbed as “The Lance Thing”. He was fairly certain Pidge had a hand in that. ‘I’m right here, you know.’ 

‘I’m sorry, I lost my temper,’ Shiro said with a tired smile. ‘Are you alright?’ 

‘Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just a game.’ 

‘You really need to stop letting him rile you up like that.’ 

Keith stuck his tongue out. 

‘Real mature.’ 

The trio finally disappeared off to bed and Keith couldn’t help but silently hope Shiro got the message that he didn’t really  _want_ to stop Lance from riling him up. What was it people said? Any attention was good attention. 

\--

Keith practically felt his eye twitch in irritation as he stared at the screen, teeth grinding together as he tried to formulate words. Somewhere in the back of his mind he acknowledged that yes, okay, maybe he  _did_ deserve it. The stunt he pulled last time they laned together was a little below the belt. It was only fair that Lance sought some kind of revenge. 

But he wouldn’t have had to do such an underhanded thing if it wasn’t for the fact Lance was being a right pain in his ass at the time. 

_‘Lance did you just-?!’_

_‘I’m not here to play games, Hunk. Well, I am, technically, but you know what I mean.’_

_‘I know what you mean bro don’t worry.’_

Keith tried not to growl. He failed. ‘ _I_ don’t know what you mean. All I know is that you just  _banned my champ_!’ 

_‘All’s fair in love and war. And this is war.’_

He looked to where his cursor lay above the icon for Blitzcrank. He moved to select a different champion. 

‘Two can play at that game,’ he declared as he typed Vayne’s name into the search bar and locked her in as a ban. The timer stopped and the selection of ten banned champions flickered across the screen in their animation sequence as Lance gasped loudly through the headset with horror. 

_‘You beast!’_

He didn’t stop. The game indicated his turn to pick his champion, scrolling through his selection of mostly-support-picks and finding one who would match what he felt right now. The feeling of wanting to set something on fire. 

_‘Hey what the hell?!_ _Brand is a_ _midlaner_ _!’_

Keith smirked. ‘Not today.’ 

There was a sigh off to his left. ‘Why do we let you two lane together?’ 

_‘Because it’s entertaining.’_

‘I’ll give you that one, Pidge.’ 

 _‘Fine, I see how it is!’_ declared the Cuban man.  _‘There’s only one thing for it!’_

He locked in Ashe. A pretty sensible, normal pick. Keith frowned. ‘When did you own Ashe?’ 

_‘She’s like, the first ADC any good ADC player owns man where have you been?’_

‘Whatever. I’m gonna kick your ass still.’ 

‘You guys are on the same team,’ Shiro reminded. ‘You can’t friendly fire.’ 

‘I can try.’ 

They waited as the loading screen loaded up. He felt his stomach sink as he observed the attractive project skin with matching icon, a ribbon in the top corner of Lance’s frame of blue. 

‘When did you have level seven Ashe?!’ 

The voice that came through was laced with a silky smugness.  _‘_ _I’m allowed to have my secrets, Mullet.’_

‘How? When? Explain!’ 

_‘She’s like one of my favourite champs. Why would I not have her level_ _seven_ _?’_

He had the icon and the skin and everything. He looked like a real Ashe main. It was disgraceful, and also a little bit impressive. The smallest amount of impressive. 

_‘You ready for me to rock your world?’_

‘Shiro I have to be right back I’m going to go set Lance’s house on fire.’ 

There were sounds of protest from all four of his teammates, ranging from “Keith sit back down” to “I live in that house too you asshole”. 

_‘You know what_ _Shiro_ _? Now you can’t get mad at me for my weird off-meta_ _junglers_ _.’_

‘Oh? Why is that?’ 

_‘Because you have to reign in Keith with his_ _midlane_ _supports.’_

‘I’ve seen plenty more Brand supports than I have Caitlyn junglers.’ 

He took the first kill. Accidentally, in his defence. Which he meant in all seriousness that time. Lance had let out a noise that vaguely resembled the sound of a strangled cat but he got on with it without much more complaining. Perhaps this hadn’t been the most awful idea he’d ever had if it meant Lance would attempt to behave to avoid him taking the rest of the kills. 

Shiro didn’t give him any hassle for it either. By the time they queued up for the next game Lance didn’t even attempt to pick Vayne, instead declaring that if Keith was going to actually learn how to play Brand as a support he was going to pick an ADC he knew to relieve some of the pressure. 

It was kind of sweet, in a weird Lance-way. It made him want to vomit all over Shiro’s computer. 

Eventually Shiro disappeared, requesting that Keith didn’t burn the house down while he was out on Date Night. There were a series of whistles and catcalls through the headset that Shiro pointedly ignored, though Keith could see the embarrassment on his face. 

 _‘One last game,’_ Hunk decided through a yawn.  _‘And then it’s bedtime. It’s getting late guys.’_

_‘Weak.’_

_‘Hey, just because you’re some weird little gremlin that only needs four hours of sleep a night doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t enjoy our time of rest.’_

Keith huffed through his smile. These losers were going to be the death of him. 

_‘Who the fuck is this?’_

Lance’s voice echoed through and he glanced down at the chat that had started to be active. 

 _‘_ _Uh, talk about being a bossy boots,’_ Hunk muttered.  _‘Just ignore him, or better yet I might mute him straight away.’_

_‘How dare he talk shit about_ _Pidge._ _That’s our job.’_

The girl made a noncommittal noise. Keith snorted and flicked through to find his new favourite champ as Hunk tried to talk Lance down from starting a fight with some kid over a video game. 

 _‘Oh no he didn’t!’_ the boy snapped.  _‘No one talks shit about my support let me at him.’_

He scowled as he looked down at the chat box to see what it was this stranger was doing to cause a fuss. 

 **Name** : It’d also be nice if Brand took a real support. 

 **Lancelot:** It’d be nice if you took a long walk off a short pier. 

 _‘Oh my-!’_ Pidge wheezed.  _‘Lance oh my goodness I’m so proud.’_

Keith felt his cheeks heat up and was suddenly thankful that Shiro and Allura were taking their sweet time about their date. He did not need them to see him. ‘I mean I don’t care what some asshole thinks, but thanks?’ 

_‘You’re welcome. Only I’m allowed to pick on you.’_

‘Wow, how generous.’ 

_‘I can hear your sarcasm, Mister.’_

‘Yeah that was kind of the point.’ 

There was a soft cooing from Pidge.  _‘Aw, look at our boys, having a bonding moment._ _How cute.’_

_‘Nope._ _I am out of here. Give me the queue dodge timer I’m not here for this_ _shi_ _-oh okay the guy disconnected I guess?’_

_‘Who knew Ashe could burn so well?’_

_‘Hey, I have my talents.’_

Keith cleared his throat in an attempt to get them back on track. ‘So since Shiro’s not here, does that mean I get to try Malzahar support seeing as his champ is free reign?’ 

_‘You’ll have to fight me for him because man do I want to take him jungle.’_

_‘You’re both a mess.’_

\--

Pidge started it. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Technically Lance started it by doing his usual thing of whining as soon as he started to get tilted, and got mad when Keith tried to shoot him down. Which he should’ve known wouldn’t work. He’d tried it enough times. 

But this time it was different. He felt like Lance was already in a bad mood, which only made their fighting worse because instead of answering Keith’s admittedly poor phrased question of “what crawled up your ass and died today” he went on the defensive. 

Pidge started the train wreck though. She snapped, calling them both useless, and demanding that Shiro and Hunk take their laptops off them and ground them from playing for at least a week. 

Keith was having none of it. ‘You can’t just boss us around!’ 

_‘Yeah!_ _You’re not my mom, Pidge.’_

She scoffed.  _‘Yeah well someone’s got to be seeing as you two can’t get along for five gosh darn minutes.’_

‘We can! We played brilliantly yesterday. Lance got his first level six mastery token with Ezreal.’ 

_‘Yeah Pidge, we make a great team.’_

_‘Fine._ _I challenge you.’_

_‘What?’_

_‘You say you can get along fine? Prove it. Go on a date.’_

Keith’s eyes widened. He looked over at Shiro, who was biting down on his lip. 

 _‘_ _Wha_ _-Pidge that’s-that’s utterly ridiculous!’_ Lance spluttered through the headset.  _‘I’m not going to take Keith out on a date!’_

‘Why not?’ he was the one on the defensive now. Who did this guy think he was? 

_‘Excuse me?’_

‘Why won’t you? You want to prove it so bad, right?’ he was going to regret this but his mouth was working faster than his brain. ‘Take me on a date. Then, when it all goes fine and smooth and Pidge realises she’s terribly wrong she can shove it and admit that she can’t play Rammus for shit.’ 

Pidge scoffed  _‘Oh please, as if I am ever wrong.’_

_‘Keith no she’s trapping you don’t fall for it.’_

He knew that was true. But she’d lit the fire. All he could see was her dumb smirking face and he wanted to wipe that smug look off it. ‘I don’t care if it’s a trap. I am here to prove a point!’ 

_‘Oh my god I can’t believe this is happening.’_

_‘Believe it, lover boy,’_ purred Pidge.  _‘You have a date to schedule and a boy to woo. Don’t think I’ll be satisfied with just two bros hanging out on a bro date. I’m talking full on Casanova here.’_

Keith snorted. ‘I’m fully aware. I just hope Lance is ready to bring his A game because I know I will be.’ 

_‘Keith_ _stop_ _.’_

Pidge cackled loudly. Loud enough that he nearly took off the headset.  _‘This is going to be priceless.’_

‘I hope you’re ready to eat your words, Pidgeon.’ 

 _‘Oh, sweet boy,’_ she crowed.  _‘I was born ready. I suppose we should leave you two in peace. You have a lot of planning to do, after all!’_

The sound of her disconnecting was the first thing that brought him back to reality. The second was a strong hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Shiro’s face full of repressed smiles and laughter, eyes glinting playfully. 

‘Good luck.’ 

With that Shiro held a hand out for Allura, promising to fill her in once they got to their room. Leaving Keith completely alone in the living room, still connected through discord, with the defeat screen glaring at him in some weird ironic way that he would appreciate if his entire world wasn’t about to  _fall down and crumble around him_. 

‘Holy shit what have I done.’ 

 _‘What have you done?!’_ Lance’s voice cracked half way through the sentence.  _‘I’ll tell you what you’ve done! You played us_ both  _right into the wicked witch’s hands!’_

His heart thudded loudly in his ears. His face felt like it was on fire. 

_‘Get your butt on Skype right now because I want to be able to look at your face while I tear you a new one.’_

And wow did that sound like the most unappealing idea he’d ever heard. ‘I’d really rather not.’ 

 _‘Why, so you can hide your guilt some more?!’_ Lance practically whimpered as his voice dropped.  _‘That evil little gremlin._ _She’s done this on purpose.’_

‘On purpose for what?’ 

_‘Be-because-it doesn’t matter. Just-when are you free?’_

‘What?’ 

_‘When are you free?_ _To go out.’_

He felt his face burn harder. Pressing the back of his hand to his cheek he confirmed that yes, he was very red. ‘Uh, you mean you actually want to go through with this?’ 

_‘You haven’t left us much of a choice. Unless you want to be the one to tell her you were all hot air?’_

No. He really didn’t. 

_‘How about Friday, after class?’_

‘To do what?’ 

There was a thoughtful hum. Lance always did bounce back quickly.  _‘I mean we could head down to the arcade, play some games? We both like games. That seems like a good place to start.’_

‘They have a bowling alley there.’ 

_‘They do! You could easily burn an entire evening there._ _It’s set then.’_

‘I guess so.’ 

_‘It’s a date.’_

Was his heart meant to do that motion? Maybe he was sick. Maybe he was going to have a heart attack. ‘Yeah, date.’ 

Fuck why did his voice have to break at a time like this. 

‘Uh, I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow?’ 

_‘Sure._ _Tomorrow._ _I’m going to go find Pidge and feed her_ _live spiders_ _.’_

He chuckled without thought. ‘Good luck with that.’ 

\--

 ‘Shiro what am I going to do? What am I going to wear? How could I do this to myself?!’ 

Shiro rolled his eyes. ‘Alright first you need to calm down. You’re no use to anyway when you’re all stressed out like this.’ 

Keith finally stopped pacing around Shiro’s room, standing still and facing the pair sat on the bed staring at him. ‘Right. Okay. Calm. I can do that.’ 

Allura perked up. ‘This is your chance, Keith!’ 

‘What?’ 

‘This is a fantastic opportunity! You should be thrilled!’ 

‘How?!’ 

Her smile was wide and calculating. ‘You have been dodging around this silly crush for weeks! Now you have the perfect opportunity to get Lance to see you in another light, to actually really try to seduce him, but you also have the fall back of Pidge as an excuse if he gets uncomfortable like you fear he will! It’s the perfect set up!’ 

‘That’s…actually a really good point.’ 

‘I know you, Keith. You never back down from a challenge. I believe in you!’ 

The ball was rolling. Allura banished Shiro from the room and declared him an unhelpful distraction before she began to rummage through Keith’s wardrobe, picking out the best outfit she could find for him. She presented him to Shiro like a model of some sort and didn’t let him leave until he had the Dad Seal of Approval. 

He was nervous as hell. He declined the offer of a quick round of Rocket League from Shiro because  _what if he was_ _late_ , and instead paced behind the couch while watching him and Allura play till it was time to leave. He pulled up on his motorbike outside of the flat Lance shared with Hunk and Pidge, shooting him a text to let him know he’d arrived. 

He looked up to catch Pidge and Hunk leaning out the window, the former with a malicious grin and the latter looking like a kid who’d just woken up on Christmas morning. Keith swore and flipped them off. 

‘Hey.’ 

He definitely didn’t jump. ‘Oh, uh, hey.’ 

Lance shifted his weight from foot to foot. He wore a pair of jeans that didn’t have a single tear in them, and a baseball jacket that was black and white over his blue t-shirt. It suited him. Blue always did bring out the colour in his eyes. 

Keith flipped open the seat of his bike to pull out the second helmet, passing it across to Lance. They were silent as the Cuban clipped it in place and mounted the bike, wrapping two long arms around his waist. 

Keith swallowed a lump in his throat. This was really actually happening. 

‘Have fun on your date!’ called a singsong voice from above them. ‘Don’t stay out too late!’ 

‘I’ll tell Shiro if you do!’ 

This time it was Lance who flipped them off as Keith started the bike and drove away. Far, far away. 

The arcade came into view too soon. The warmth of the other man’s body behind him disappeared and he turned off his bike, steeling himself to have as much courage as he could, keeping Allura’s words of enthusiasm and encouragement in his mind. He had free reign, the perfect excuse for playing anything he did off. He could do this. 

Lance took off his helmet and ran his hand through his hair a couple of times before pinning Keith with a blinding smile. ‘You ready, hot stuff?’ 

He couldn’t do this. 

He tucked the helmets away safely and they headed into the building without another word. The bowling alley was tucked in the back behind the ticket counter. He approached and booked the lane for two people and whipping out his wallet without a second thought. 

‘Woah, hold on, why are you paying?’ 

Keith turned with wide eyes to stare at Lance. He opened his mouth. Nothing came out. 

‘I’m meant to be taking you on a date,  _remember_? I pay.’ 

‘Seriously?’ Keith relaxed against the counter and raised a brow. ‘You’re about to turn down a free game of bowling?’ 

‘Yes! I’m paying! Put your wallet away!’ 

He narrowed his eyes, surveying the scrunched up brow and the pink twinge in the tanned cheeks. Keith clicked his tongue and turned to the girl behind the counter as he passed her the money. She glanced between them both before she began to run it through the till. 

‘Didn’t you hear a word I just said?!’ 

Keith rolled his eyes as he got his change and put his wallet away. ‘How about this; I paid for bowling, so you can pay for dinner.’ 

‘Fine. This was Pidge’s  _worst_ idea yet.’ 

He was used to Lance’s dramatic and exaggerated way of speaking, so he mostly brushed it off and agreed spitefully. He would be lying if it didn’t hurt a little bit. But what Allura had said was right; this was his chance to change that from being the worst idea to the best idea. It was only the start of the evening. It could only go up from there, right? 

‘I hope you’re ready to get your ass kicked, Kogane.’ 

He snorted and tucked his gloves in his back pocket, picking his ball and securing his grip. ‘He thinks he’s going to win. Cute.’ 

‘You are  _so_ going down.’ 

\--

Keith won. Lance assured him it was definitely because Lance  _let him_ win, but Keith knew better. Whatever residual awkwardness that they entered the building with had been left in the alleys, because half way through they were back to their usual banter and competitive friendship. Keith knew it wasn’t exactly what Pidge had in mind when she talked about  _dates_ and going the whole hog on it, but he wasn’t sure he’d want a date with Lance to be anything different than what they did. 

Lance grabbed his hand and dragged him to one of the many machines in the building, setting them up at an air hockey table and spinning the puck between his fingers as he talked up a big game as usual. Keith snorted with laughter at the dramatic flair and promised to take him down again. 

They were pretty even. He only just won. 

They went round each machine in turn. Lance crushed him at Pacman, and definitely  _cheated_ on Guitar Hero with his prodding and poking and hip bumping. Allura’s words of wisdom were gone from his thoughts; too busy being consumed by everything else in that moment. 

He didn’t know what game they were up to when he started being the one dragging Lance around, but he was quick to link their hands together to do it. 

They spent more time and money than reasonably acceptable on House of the Dead. Lance gave a couple of shrieks but his aim was spectacular so Keith couldn’t tease him too much. Neither were backing down till they made it till the final boss. 

Which they did. But once Keith died and fished round for loose change it was apparent that  _beating_ the final boss was best left for next time. 

Lance convinced him to play one last ticket game as a wind down for the end of the night. He agreed with an eye roll and reluctant smile, picking up a rifle and accepting one of Lance’s last coins before he began to shoot. 

It was simple and easy and calmed his racing heart. He finished his shots first, placing the gun back in the slot and watched Lance line up each shot. The fewer he had the longer he took to fire. 

When he finally finished he didn’t look back at Keith. Instead he fidgeted with the trigger of the gun and watched the ducks spinning round. 

‘I’m just going to come out and say it.’ 

Keith looked up wide eyed at the other man. ‘What?’ 

‘So I’ve had a really good time tonight?’ it was more of a question than a compliment. ‘And I mean I feel kind of bad because I know what Pidge was setting you up for.’ 

‘What was she setting me up for?’ 

Lance rubbed the back of his neck, refusing to meet Keith’s eyes. ‘Like, so, man this is weird-I’ve had this tiny crush on you for weeks now. And by tiny I mean absolutely gigantic. I know I rile you up a lot and I look like that kid in the playground that pulls the girl’s pigtails to get attention but that’s sort of what I am not gonna lie.’ 

Keith felt his heart thud harshly against his ribcage. This was really happening. 

‘And I think Pidge was kind of just trying to bait you into asking me out on a date because apparently she’s sick of “watching us dance around each other like lost flamingos” whatever that means. So I’m sorry that I didn’t stop you or anything. And that I’ve dragged you through this whole mess. But it’d be pretty cool if, I dunno, we had a second date too? If-if you’ve enjoyed this one that is.’ 

It was horrendously awkward, and Lance refused to look at him for his entire ramble. Impromptu ramble, given that Lance liked to think himself smooth and had been on several occasions, managing to reduce Keith to a blushing mess more than once. But despite that it felt like the tension that had been following them around had somewhat ebbed away, and the realisation of it all hit him smack dab in the face that Lance was  _confessing_  to him. That was a real thing that was going on. 

‘You know you could say something instead of just staring at me like I’ve grown an extra head.’ 

Keith snapped his mouth shut hard enough that his teeth clacked. It woke him up from his stupor at least. He looked back at the tickets that had stopped coming out the machine as he tried to get his tongue to do the moving thing and formulate words. 

‘You know…’ he started, ripping the tickets off and adding them to the rest of the collection. ‘Technically our date isn’t over.’ 

Lance’s eyes widened and his entire being seemed to lift. 

‘And, correct me if I’m wrong, but you did say seeing as I paid for bowling you’d pay for dinner.’ 

A smile split across the tanned face. ‘I did.’ 

Keith reached a hand forward and wrapped his fingers round the buttons of the baseball jacket. ‘Good, because honestly I’ve had a tiny gigantic crush on you for a while too, and I’d like it if we didn’t end the night just yet.’

Lance took the collection of tickets and stepped closer to Keith, their feet bumping together. ‘Do you wanna see if we can get anything really patronising to give to Pidge because she’s tiny and also a child?’ 

‘Absolutely.’ 

\--

_‘Did you two seriously just back and flash your masteries at the same time?’_

Keith smirked. ‘Damn fucking right.’ 

_‘I knew it was a bad idea to let them take pool party_ _botlane_ _.’_

Lance laughed from his place on the couch. ‘Don’t lie, Hunk. You love it.’ 

_‘You’re right, I do. I think it’s really cute.’_

_‘I think I’m going to vomit,’_ Pidge supplied.  _‘Like I’m happy that you’re not pining after each other anymore but wow this is not much of an improvement.’_

‘My ranked score begs to differ.’ 

Shiro agreed. ‘Lance is right, they are climbing the ranks now that they work together better.’ 

 _‘But da-a-ad!’_ she whined.  _‘They’re too obnoxious. And gross.’_

‘You set this up, I don’t know why you’re complaining.’ 

Keith tiled his head back from his position on the floor, looking up to see Lance smirking down at him. Space Dad had their back. Nothing felt better than that. 

Lance winked before stretching his arms high above his head and yawning. ‘Man, I am  _beat_ , I think it’s time to go to bed.’ 

_‘That’s right. Fuck off.’_

Shiro turned from his position at his desk, giving Keith a pointed look. He raised a brow. Shiro rolled his eyes. 

‘I think it’d be good if we all took a break,’ he said. ‘I was hoping to play some more Persona before bed tonight.’ 

Keith scowled. That meant they’d have to give up the couch. 

There was a rough nudge to the back of his head and he turned to see Lance gesturing at him and his laptop. When all he got was a blank stare in return, Lance threw his arms in the air and spoke with a dull voice: ‘You joining me, Keith?’ 

Oh.  _Oh_. 

‘Right!’ Keith cleared his throat. ‘Yeah. Sorry. My brain’s stopped working, gotta rest it a bit.’ 

_‘Wow, real subtle.’_

Keith snapped his laptop closed along with the embarrassment from being slow on the uptake before he stood, Lance grinning wide and taking his hand before saying goodnight to Shiro. 

He watched Lance flop down on his bed as he shut the door and chuckled as the tanned boy beckoned him over, grinning and kicking off his shoes. Lance raised a hand and pulled on his shirt to silently request he hurried up. It only made him take his sweet time. 

‘Come here, you dork,’ Lance muttered as their lips grazed together. ‘You tunnel vision so hard when we play.’ 

He hummed softly and peppered kisses across Lance’s jaw. ‘I tunnel vision for everything. Including you.’ 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to express the idea that 
> 
> A first date would be so natural because they're already so comfortable in each other that they'd just FORGET everyone else? 
> 
> I hope it comes across!


End file.
